Welcome to CarterMatt’s Crime Dynamic Duos for 2019! The goal for this tournament is pretty easy to explain: Recognizing some of the best crimefighters in all of television. The word “crimefighter” can at times have a loose interpretation, but for the sake of this tournament we’re referring to it mostly as cops, lawyers, or investigators who do their best to take down some pretty-bad people and fight to help others. They’re the sort of characters you typically admire, and they have an aspirational quality to them along with them being entertaining.

For the first battle today, we’ve got a couple of duos facing off that have at least a couple of things in common — they are bold, tenacious characters willing to do whatever they need to in order to get the job done … and there’s also a pretty active ‘shipping community around both of them. On one side of the coin, you’ve got Bishop & Torres from NCIS. Meanwhile, on the other you’ve got Donna & Harvey from Suits. Both of these shows have been on the air a long time and because of that, we know that there are some pretty active fan followings out there in the world. We anticipate this being a close showdown for that very reason.

If you’ve been around for past editions of Crime Dynamic Duos, then you know a thing or two about how this works — at the bottom of this article is a poll to vote for who you want to see advance! One duo will, and at the end of the month, we’ll officially crown the champion in all of their glory.

How voting works – Vote however often you would like! (Technical instructions for multiple voting can be found right above the poll.) We will keep this poll open until Thursday, April 11 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. The winner here will have the challenging of battling either Sam & Callen of NCIS: Los Angeles or Shawn & Gus from Psych/Psych: The Movie. That will be a fun battle no matter what, since we’re dealing with characters all across the board viewers have been familiar with for quite a few years.

You can see the full bracket (including start dates for each individual round) in the graphic at the top of this article.

The competitors

Bishop & Torres, NCIS (#3 seed) – When we first met these two characters, we didn’t really have much of a sense that they would make such great professional partners … or be the sort of characters people would want to see together. Yet, here we are! A part of that is due to the chemistry of Wilmer Valderrama and Emily Wickersham, but another part of it has to do with how these characters bring out the best in one other. They balance each other out well in the field, as she tends to be a bit more cautious and analytical whereas he is much more the guy who wants to go charging in. You need both parts of this to succeed in this job.

While Bishop & Torres have yet to venture super far within the Crime Dynamic Duos tournament, this may be an opportunity for them to really move in that direction. Over the past year, we do feel like the writers have built up this relationship so much more than they had in the past.

Donna & Harvey, Suits (#6 seed) – The reason why these two were so appealing from the start on Suits was because they were these two characters totally unafraid to challenge each other. To many, Harvey Specter may have been this high-powered super-lawyer no one wanted to cross. Donna wouldn’t flinch, and she’d make Harvey look into himself and see a better course of action. While the two finally got together (hopefully for good) at the end of last season, we don’t want to just focus on that and ignore the years of buildup and fantastic work that they’ve done together at the firm.

So what really makes Donna & Harvey crime-fighters and with that, perfect for this tournament? We wondered about that, but when the dust settles we think the soul of Suits is about watching good (but occasionally flawed people) fighting in order to stop bad people — who, at times, also happen to be committing crimes. Even when they are not criminal lawyers (and even though Donna is not a lawyer at all), their words and their actions are their own equivalent of a set of handcuffs and a badge.

Now, we turn this over to you

Be sure to vote for who you want to see advance below!

I can’t see the poll; what do I do? – If you are on mobile, scroll to the bottom of the page and click to view the non-AMP version. If that does not work, give the poll a moment to load! On some mobile browsers, it may take a moment.

How can I vote more than once? – Just refresh the page! If you are having trouble casting multiple votes, try switching your browser, your device, or visiting the page under private browsing or incognito mode. There should be many handy guides online explaining how to do so if interested.